All Posts by andrew martonik

Joining forces with Phonebloks and developing a platform in the open
Building off of a project it called "MAKEwithMOTO," Motorola is ready to unveil its plans for modular smartphones called Project Ara. Ara, for short, is all about building a system that makes the process of creating smartphones that are upgradeable, customizable and open. Partnering with the folks at Phonebloks that recently...

Explorers who purchased Glass already can upgrade to the new hardware version for free
Google announced today that it will be expanding the availability of Glass, as well as refreshing the hardware based on Explorer feedback. While there aren't any specifics on a new design or exact features, Google is saying that the new version of Glass will have compatibility with future prescription and...

Features include a curved display, self-healing rear skin and back-mounted buttons
We've had our fair share of looks at the then-unannounced G Flex, and now LG has made its curved phone official. Unlike the recently-revealed Samsung Galaxy Round, the G Flex is curved on the horizontal axis (think Galaxy Nexus) and seemingly more dramatically based on the pictures LG has released. Aside from...

New interface elements and features borrowed from the Note 3 included
Samsung has stated that it's on track to have a Galaxy Gear-supporting update ready for the Galaxy Note 2 by year's end, and it looks based on a leak today that that update will also be to Android 4.3. A full build of test firmware for the international (GT-N7100) variant of the Galaxy Note 2 has leaked, giving us a look at...

Get your weekly selection of app picks from the AC writers right here
Welcome back to another Saturday afternoon edition of Apps of the Week, our compendium of apps, tools and games from the Android Central writers. Each week we gather up picks from the folks here at AC, asking them to submit an app that they've been using recently. It can come from any area of the Play Store, with any rating...

More prominent 'Simple Choice' branding and features making their way to the prepaid market
Starting the last couple of days, T-Mobile prepaid customers have started to have unfettered access to their phone's mobile hotspot function. Previously the only way to hotspot "by the book" on its prepaid plans was to pay $15 per month, but now we have confirmation that T-Mobile has changed its...

A solid set of specs and features taken to their logical conclusion and sold for a good price - is that enough to make a sale?
With a string of carrier-commissioned and cheap unlocked handsets, ZTE has been struggling to work its way into the U.S. market. The same can actually be said for most areas outside of Asia and its home country of China, as ZTE has tried to expand its mainland success...

Full campaign and survival mode with both first-person and third-person action
The latest in the Call of Duty line, Strike Team, has just hit the Play Store for everyone to get their hands on. With a new story line based on modern combat in the year 2020 between the "world's superpowers," Strike Team will certainly appeal to any CoD fan out there. In terms of gameplay, Strike Team is...

Plan pages and advertisement materials still make no mention of new tethering option
It seems as though some folks with T-Mobile prepaid plans are being given a free allotment of mobile hotspot usage, falling closer in line with the new UNcarrier postpaid plans. Although with its UNcarrier initiative T-Mobile relaxed its policies drastically on offering free mobile hotspot on postpaid plans,...

Quarterly operating profit up 26 percent, semiconductor sales up drastically
It's earnings time, and the next company up to report its financials from Q3 2013 is Samsung. Riding solid growth in nearly all of its major divisions, Samsung posted huge sales and record profits for the quarter — here are the highlights:
Sales of $55.6 billion, up from $49.1 billion last year
Record operating...

Still seeing net losses despite huge sales numbers; no Kindle Fire sales figures given
Amazon has just posted its Q3 2013 earnings report, and the line seems to follow much the same trend as previous quarters. While the retail and online service giant posted a massive $17.09 billion in sales, up 24 percent year-over-year, it still posted an operating loss of $25 million (net loss of $41...

Performance enhancements and bug fixes also included in version 1.0.0.72
Just in case your device wasn't on the list of supported phones or tablets at launch, BBM has just been updated to support even more. Unfortunately the changelog doesn't indicate a complete list of supported devices nor does it say which were added in this round, but we're never going to turn down an update for wider...

Pixar animation technology seemingly making its way to a Moto X-exclusive game
The Motorola YouTube account has just posted a new video teasing upcoming news. Titled "Windy Day," the video shows several people being handed a Moto X and twirling around — as one would with an augmented reality app or game — with the video description reading:
A mouse, a red hat, a windy day and a smile. This...

Android Central sits down with Samsung's Won-pyo Hong, President & Head of Samsung Media Solutions Center
Samsung is an absolute dominating force in the mobile industry and consumer electronics arena as a whole, so its no secret as to why it receives so much attention in the Android world from consumers and journalists alike. We all see dozens of products get released, but behind the...

Two more tools to make the best Vines possible
Everyone's favorite 6-second video making app Vine is receiving an update today that helps you create even better videos. The first new feature is called "Sessions," and its basically a drafts folder for videos. You can take portions or complete Vines, and save them for later, up to 10 at a time. You can access these Sessions with a tap on an icon...

Get a quick introduction to Google's note, list and voice memo app
Google Keep has been available for some time now, and is even a default app on new devices since its introduction. Even so, not many of us take advantage of its potential as a note, list, voice memo and general brain dump kind of app. Taking to our "Ambassador Guides, Tips and How-To's" forum, forums ambassador Golfdriver97 has...

Mobile device sales up 24 percent year-over-year
LG has just posted its third quarter 2013 financial results, encompassing earnings from its four major global divisions. As a complete company, LG posted $12.51 billion in revenues leading to $196.34 million in operating profit, which is up 27 percent year-over-year. We're most interested in the mobile side of things though, so let's get into...

$299 gets you an entry-level Micro 4/3 camera with Android on-board
The last time we laid eyes on the Polaroid iM1836 it was at CES in January with some non-working demo units, but now you can actually plunk down some cash for one at retailers. The entry-level Micro 4/3 camera is coming in at just $299 with a 10-30mm kit lens, $50 less than was expected based on its initial launch details.
For...

Paid option could offer offline listening and no advertisements
In a somewhat puzzling bit of news, rumor has it that YouTube will launch its own subscription music service. According to sources of Billboard, YouTube is planning a two-tiered subscription music service that builds on the music label deals Google secured for Google Play Music All Access. Sources claim that a YouTube music...

Several months after its launch, the Galaxy S4 is​ still selling like hotcakes
Samsung CEO JK Shin has stated that his company has sold a whopping 40 million Galaxy S4's since the device's launch earlier this year. Following up on the report of 20 million sales in just two months since launch, hitting the 40 million mark is nothing to sneeze at in just three more months.
Its predecessor, the...

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